Four PR myths busted!

Honestly, you’d be amazed at the misconceptions we regularly hear about PR. And most often from the very people who should be embracing the opportunities a creative PR campaign would offer them.

It seems PR has earned itself a bad rap, with some people thinking we’re all like Edina from AbFab, or worse a fluffy champagne airhead whose favourite expression is “yah, fabulous”.

So I want to address a couple of those common misconceptions and put to rest any unflattering comparison between me and Edina.

PR is just another name for advertising

Well, both PR and advertising are essential components of the marketing mix, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Think of it like this – advertising is obvious, in-your-face selling and your customers know that. And that’s ok, there is nothing wrong with advertising and for many businesses it’s an important part of their strategy.

But PR is more subtle and is perceived as a more credible message because its tone is different.

It’s more like a personal one-to-one conversation with your customers, It’s telling people what others think about your brand or service, and is perceived as an impartial third person’s view.

PR is just spin and newspapers don’t even look at press releases

It’s true, a bad press release is blatantly just poorly packaged advertising and it’s unlikely to be used.

But here at F Stop Press we don’t “do” PR like this. We’re all active journalists, we have excellent relationships with national and local media and we supply them with original, quirky and interesting news stories which get used.

So, we take that experience and knowledge of news-reporting and apply it to tell your story in a way that will appeal to editors.

We can’t afford a PR company, we’ll do it ourselves

A successful PR campaign will pay for itself.

But trying to do it yourself can be a huge timewaster – and your time is money, right? PR companies have all the press contacts at their fingers, they will have excellent relationships with the media and even more importantly they know how to write in newspaper style.

So, you do your job and I’ll do mine for you. I wouldn’t have a clue how to restore a dry-stone wall, but I know how to write an interesting tale about someone who does!

PR is old fashioned and not needed these days with social media

Social media is a fantastic way of communicating with customers but it’s vital to have a strategy in place and an understanding of how each platform works.

The use of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and YouTube should be part of any decent PR campaign, and it’s a brilliant way of having an honest two-way conversation with clients.

Rod takes the pictures. He has a degree in journalism, and set up a news-photo agency in 2006 working with dozens of photographers, selling their pictures to national and international publications. He's worked with many corporate clients, PR executives and media relations teams is a keen cyclist, runner and motorcyclist.